Gripping and disassembling tool



p 1951 J R NICHOLS 2,568,294

GRIPPING AND DISASSEMBLING TOOL Filed Dec. 16, 1948 :3 -4o H; 3mm

Jaw/v R N ICHUL 5 This invention relates UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GRIPPING AND DISASSEMBLING TOOL John R. Nichols, Jackson, Mich., assignor to James E. McLendon, doing business as Time Saver Tool 00., Dallas, Tex.

Application December 16, 1948, Serial N0. 65,631

2 Claims.

to a hand tool which can be employed as a wrench to remove or replace articles, such as the muffler or exhaust pipes of motor vehicles, which require to be very tightly ,fitted in position with a friction grip and which in practice offer considerable difficulty in their removal or replacement with the existing types of hand wrench, as employed in garages for example.

The previously employed and available hand wrenches comprise a handle part carrying a head part upon which a flexible strap is mounted adapted to be wrapped about the article which it is desired to remove or replace and which is employed in association with an abutment member carried upon the head part to engage the article in opposition to the wrapped strap, whereupon the latter is releasably secured upon the head part.

7 These previously known wrenching tools, however, are constructed to permit the required removal or replacing operations to be carried out purely by a wrenching operation, with an attendant rocking of the handle lever-wise, and with reliance solely upon the grip maintained upon the article by a previous tightening of the strap thereabout. In actual fact, these known wrenching tools have been found to have limited use and cannot be satisfactorily employed to remove or replace very tightly friction fitting articles, such as muffler or exhaust pipes, which have become rusted or otherwise set in position and which require the application of considerable force to enable their removal and subsequent replacement to be effected. I

The present invention, in fact, has been developed having regard to the requirement for a hand tool which can successfully be employed to remove or replace such tightly friction fitting articles as muffler or exhaust tubes and which will stand up to the attendant rough treatment inuse.

It is an important object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a hand tool which is of robust construction and can be successfully employed to remove or replace very tightly friction fitting articles, such as mufller or exhaust tubes, with the application of a succession of hard and somewhat violently applied hammer blows, as distinct from the usual hand wrenching operation, and which will stand up to such applied blows.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which show by way of example one practical embodiment of the invention and in which: i

Fig. I is a perspective view of this embodiment of the invention, with the handle part of the tool broken away for ease of illustration.

Fig. II is a plan view of the tool, as seen in Fig. I.

Fig. III is a fragmentary plan view of the chain anchoring end of the tool head as seen in Fig. I, and

Fig. IV is a fragmentary side elevational view of Fig. III with one side of the chain anchor loop on the head part broken away to reveal the chain anchor rib or protuberance.

Referring to the drawings the tool shown therein comprises a solid hardened rectangular metal block In having a central screw-threaded bore l2 through which the screw-threaded portion l4 of'a handle 16 extends and is screwthreadedly connected with a channel shaped abutment saddle 18, the latter being thereby rotatably carried upon the screw-threaded spindle end and being adapted abuttingly to engage with opposite sides of the article which it is desired to remove or replace, the article being shown, in dotted lines in Figs. I and II to represent a tube 20, such as a mufiler or exhaust tube.

To one side of the block ID (the latter forming a hard robust hammer-like head part) there is secured one end of a flexible strap 22, shown as a flat link chain but which may be otherwise formed, which strap is adapted to be wrapped around the article and be passed by its free end 24 through a rigid loop 26 formed integral with the block I0 and containing within it a transversely extending anchorage ridge 3!! for the strap.

The loop 26 also carries a screw-threaded thumb screw 32 which is adapted to be engaged with the strap to releasably lock the latter anchored against the anchorage ridge 30 by pressure applied to the strap adjacent the ridge by tightening the thumb screw.

The abutment saddle l8, as stated, is rotatably mounted upon the end of the handle spindle l6 and is shown as having a base lBa with diverging flat side walls I817 and with a serrated interior surface I the purpose of which is to give an efficient gripping characteristic.

The fixing of the one end of the strap 22 to the block II] is conveniently effected by locating the strap end in a vertically extending recess 34 in the block l0 and pinning the strap therein by 3 a cross pin 36 which extends parallel with the anchorage ridge 30.

Where the strap is constituted by a multiplicity of adjacent fiat chain links 22a as shown with the links having a wedge shape recess 22b on the inside edges, as shown, the anchorage ridge 3% is conveniently shaped to fit into that recess (or combination thereof) on the chain which happens to be presented to the ridge upon the chain link strap being tightened about the article 20 and the thumb-screw tightened;

It is important to'note that the anchored chain end and the free chain end are disposed upon opposite sides of the block 16 and that the pin 36 and anchorage ridge 30 extend parallel with each other in the direction of the article 20When held gripped upon the tool.

It is also important to note that the block 10 is mainly solid and presents opposite hard hammer head surface 38 on its opposite surfaces which are capable of withstanding violently applied hammer blows exerted in the direction of the gripped article to thereby force the latter home into position or remove the article therefrom.

In the use of the tool the handle spindle [6 would be slackened back, as also would the thumb screw 23, to free the flexible strap 22, to be wrapped about the article 20, whereupon the strap would be tightened as far as is possible by hand actuation by pulling the free end of the strap through the loop 26. Having done this, the thumb screw 23 would be tightened to lock the corresponding strap recess 2% against the anchorage ridge 30, it being noted that the recess is open at both ends. This operation secures the strap against loosening but in order to obtain the final and maximum gripping action the handle spindle l 6 is rotated to cause the saddle I8 to advance upon the article and take up all play or looseness. With the article thus firmly gripped by the tool and the latter held in one hand it is possible to hammer either wall 38 of the block or hammer-like head 10 in order to effect the desired removal or replacing operation, with the hammer blows applied in the direction of the article.

Having thus described the invention having regard to one practical form thereof but without limitation to the precise constructional details shown, what I claim as novel and wish to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. A tool for the removal of mufflers, exhaust pipes and similar articles which in their association with other structure are normally assembled with the telescoping tight fit requiring a relative axial movement for their removal comprising a massive body portion having impact receiving surfaces on opposite sides thereof to receive the blow of a hammer directed axially of the article to be removed, a threaded bore defined in said body, a combination handle and rotatable clamp bar threadedly received in said bore, a clamping body swiveled upon one end of said bar which in use projects through said body within a narrow range, a flexible clamping memher anchored at one end to said body, selectable points of anchorage defined along said clamping member, means in said body for connecting any one of said selected points of anchorage of said flexible clamping member to said body to embrace, by the said flexible clamping member and said body, an article disposed on said clamping body with a rough clamping action, said clamping body and said flexible clamping member having clamping surfaces thereon substantially normal to the said impact surfaces with an elongated cylindrical article clamped therebetween, said clamping body being normally disposed directly adjacent to said body with said bar threaded into its retracted position and being projected upon a final clamping action a distance not to exceed the distance between said points of an: chorage along said clamping member whereby the longitudinal axis of the article clamped is directly adjacent said impact surface and normal thereto.

2. In combination, a chain clamp and impact receiving tool for removing and installing automobile tail pipes, comprising a head having a striking surface formed on opposite faces thereof and provided with a longitudinal, threaded bore, said head further having a longitudinal slot in one side thereof intermediate the striking surfaces, a rod having a threaded portion for longitudinal adjustment in the bore of said head and defining a handle, a work engaging shoe rotatably mounted on the end of said rod and having a roughened work contacting surface, a chain having one end pivoted to the opposite side of said head intermediate the striking surfaces and adapted to be passed over work engaged by said shoe, a pair of opposed projections in the slot of said head between which said chain is passed for latching said chain in the side of said head opposite the pivotal attachment of said chain and means for rotating said handle to advance said shoe against the work to impose tension on said chain and to hold the tool against slippage while applying hammer blows against one of said striking surfaces to shift the work in an axial direction.

JOHN R. NICHOLS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS" 

